Matthew Cox is a Philadelphia- based artist who embraces and joins a variety of media to produce several thematic series of work. Medical x-rays and embroidery, couture and crime, rubber stamps, short-story prose and paint all layer toward a darkly comic and anachronistic impression of the human condition in the twenty-first century.
“Redefinition motivates me to create my embroidered x-rays. The stark clash of two such divergent materials, cloth and plastic, is the simple catalyst. One tactile and labor intensive, the other technical, and quickly a finished product. There’s a wide historical context, one ancient, decorative, and artisanal, the other contemporary and devoid of aesthetic intention. By simply placing one of these materials on top of the other the understood purpose of each is redefined.
For me, stitching has a nurturing aspect and acts as care giving or healing to the injured, a socially feminine sort of action, while the x-ray itself can be considered masculine and unemotional. Finally, my own recognition of what is beautiful [these separately became appealing to me at about the same time]. As an artist who takes on tedious, labor-intensive projects, I am also reacting to the ever-increasing presence of photography in contemporary art – by introducing the process of labor over the quick, slickness of film.”
A 2008 recipient of the Pew Charitable Trusts Fellowship in Painting, Cox studied at the Parsons School of Design in New York and Otis/Parsons in Los Angeles. He exhibits his work internationally and is featured in many prominent collections such as the New Orleans Museum of Art, Progressive Insurance Corporate Art Collection, the Georgetown College Art Gallery and the private collections of Beth Rudin DeWoody, E. John Bullard, Ronnie Brenner and numerous others.
Images courtesy of Matthew Cox
Discover: matthewcoxartist.com
